Quote:True, but there is a lot to be said for reading the whole enchilada in order. Early UFCore may be crude, in terms of writing style, plot, or other stylistic/structural criteria, but they really shine when it comes to fun and accuracy.
Skip the core stories until you're more familiar with the universe, because quite frankly they're crude and primitive compared to Gryphon et al.'s mature work.
Before anybody goes crazy about me calling such a megacross 'accurate', what I mean is that the early Core stories present the best 'if I got all this cool anime stuff, this is what I'd do' vibe I've ever seen. Really, if a bunch of college gweeps got a hold of all that sort of stuff, wouldn't they be hopelessly in-jokey? Wouldn't they play around with it?
Really, the early stuff should be crude, because the characters, in many senses, are crude. UF-Gryphon shouldn't start out in his full, demi-godly, Future Imperfect character style, because *that isn't him yet*. The earlier stuff gives the reader a reason to enjoy the powerful, well-adjusted, quirky SIs, because it lets them see those same SIs grow, both in power and maturity. Symphony-Gryphon would be just another overpowered SI without that backstory, even if he does very little personally. By that part of the series, he's a walking plot device.
Symphony builds upon the original arcs to enough of a degree, or so it seems to me, that the original series is necessary as a foundation- the people, places, and recent events really need some explanation, in order to make the story make sense from the beginning. I would certainly have been lost, if I'd started like the Boss had.
I've read the entire series, beginning to end, at least four times, and I still find new and interesting things to think about, references to investigate, and jokes to chuckle at every time. My favorite aspect of the series, aside from its general quality, humor value, and length (important when you speed-read!), has got to be that it's a SI that evolves into a non-SI along the way: a frivolous read that becomes more meaningful over time- a series that grows with its authors and characters.
If you have the time and the dedication to get through so much fanfic, read it all in order. It's worth it.Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...
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I've been writing a bit.